107 Stories of Rowaelin

13. Glass Beach

Inspired by Youtube channel polandbananasbooks. Yeah, this is another where Aelin is dead... sorry. But I will have more ideas if you comment *ahem ahem.*

     Rowan didn't know why he'd come here. Something, besides Dorian's looks, Aedion's eyes, and Lysandra's whispers had told him to. There were people, standing around the sign. They laughed and talked. They'd turned this place, his and hers, into a tourist attraction. His Fae vision allowed him to read the sign. "Upon this spot, Queen Aelin Ashryver Galathynius of Terrasen and King Rowan Whitethorn first consummated their marriage.

     Not, exactly the truth, but close enough.  Distantly as if in a daze, Rowan heard a small boy speak.

     "Momma, what's con-sum-aht-ed?" His mother just patted his head. The boy reached down and stroked the glass. "Momma, why is this glass?" His mother scooped him up into her arms. 

     "Sam, I told you! Sand turns into glass when it's heated. Queen Aelin melted it with her fire." The present tense hit Rowan like a punch in the stomach. He sat down on a bench, pulling his hood further over his face, hiding his silver hair and eyes, which swam with tears. He remained there as the sun sank into the west, and the people drifted off, to swim in the ocean or picnic on the beach. When the area around the circle of glass was clear, he slowly approached it, warily, as if it were a wild animal and not a sheet of melted sand. He crouched down and ran his fingers over the smooth yet bumpy glass, clear as a mountain stream. Before, before all of this, this memory would have made his breath quicken and his blood heat. Now it brought only sadness. Despite his efforts, one, two, three tears fell from his eyes and rolled across the glass into the ocean. He just stayed there, running his fingers over the glass, tears rolling down his face, over his new tattoo, the one that detailed the story of her life, and how he lost her. He didn't know how long he crouched there, but screams woke him from his reverie. A child's and a woman's intertwined with the screams of people on the beach. Rowan rose and turned. The scent of blood filled the air. Rowan raced toward the beach. As he got closer, he saw a woman floating, the water around her stained red. A little girl, no more than five, thrashed in the jaws of a tiger shark. He didn't even stop at the edge of the water, he just turned it into ice as he raced toward the little girl, drawing his sword. His hood flew backward. Distantly, he heard cries of "Prince Rowan!" and "King Rowan!" But his focus was on the little girl, her blond hair reflecting the light as she screamed in the shark's grip. The world slowed and Rowan stabbed down into the shark's head. It stilled instantly, sinking into the water. The girl screamed, inhaling water. Rowan didn't pause to think or calculate. He just slipped into the water and grabbed the girl, pumping air into her lungs with his magic. He scrambled up onto the sheet of ice. The girl coughed and choked, opening her eyes. Rowan caught his breath. They were turquoise. The girl just looked dazed, and then turned to the woman in the water.

     "Mama! Mama!" she shrieked. She almost wriggled out of Rowan's arms.

     He cradled her in his arms and pulled her face against his chest. "What's your name?" he softly asked her.

    "A-a-amira." She choked and coughed water.

    "Do you have anyone else? A father, a sibling?"

    Amira shook her head violently. "Please, no. No, don't let me go back to him. Mama took me away." She beat at him with her tiny fists. "I won't. I won't go back!"

    Rowan held her tighter. "If you don't want to go back, I won't make you." The sun glinted off her hair, so like Aelin's. "I'm Rowan. I live at the Palace of Terrasen. I'll take you there."

    Amira slowly looked up at him, her little-girl turquoise eyes wide. "What about Mama?" Her voice caught. 

    "Your mother will be buried, with all the proper rights. I promise I'll take care of you, okay?"

     Amira just nodded against his chest as he walked back toward the beach.